Autonomous sailboat for oceanographic monitoring
OwnerWalter Holemansinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fleet of autonomous sailing vessels that are equipped with monitoring and communication equipment for reporting environmental and other conditions. For optimal stability, the autonomous sailing vessels are multi-hulled vessels (catamarans) with self-righting capabilities. Each sailing vessel sends and receives information via one or more satellite links, using solar power to power the communications equipment as well as the monitoring equipment. Each sailing vessel includes an auto-sailtrim system to maintain a desired attack angle with the wind, and electric propulsion for use as required to maintain a desired heading. A modular design is used to support mission-specific payloads.
Claims30
A sailboat comprising:
- a plurality of hulls arranged parallel to each other and coupled together by a truss arrangement,
- a wingsail structure that is rotatable about a first axis of rotation that is orthogonal to a plane of the hulls, and a second axis of rotation that is parallel to the hulls, and
- an auto-righting system that is configured to rotate the wingsail structure about the second axis of rotation when a capsize of the sailboat is detected.
A sailboat comprising:
- a plurality of hulls arranged parallel to each other and coupled together by a truss arrangement,
- a wingsail structure that is rotatable about a first axis of rotation that is orthogonal to a plane of the hulls, and
- an autotrim system that controls rotation of the wingsail structure about the first axis of rotation;
- wherein:
- the wingsail structure includes:
- a wingsail that provides lift to propel the sailboat forward,
- a wind vane that pivots on the wingsail structure so as to consistently be aligned with a current wind direction, and
- a coupling rod that controls a difference between an orientation of the wingsail structure and an orientation of the wind vane;
- and
- the autotrim system includes a cam attached to the truss arrangement and coupled to the coupling rod to control the difference between the orientation of the wingsail structure and the orientation of the wind vane based on an orientation of the truss structure.
A method of righting a capsized sailboat in a body of water comprising rotating a buoyant mast structure about an axis that is parallel to a surface of the body of water, so as to move a center of buoyancy of the capsized sailboat away from a center of gravity of the capsized sailboat, thereby introducing a righting torque.
A method of self-trimming a sailboat comprising:
- providing a wingsail structure that provides lift to the sailboat at a given angle of attack;
- providing a windvane structure the indicates a direction of wind relative to the sailboat;
- coupling the wingsail structure and the windvane structure via a cam that controls the angle of attack of the wingsail based on the direction of wind indicated by the windvane structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.